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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/12/1999 Work Session . MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, JULY 12, 1999 The city of Springfield council met in work session in the Jesse Maine Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, July 12, 1999, at 5:05 p.m., with Mayor Maine presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Maine, Councilors Ballew, Fitch, Hatfield, Leiken, Lundberg and Simmons (5:06 p.m.). Also present were City Manager Michael Kelly, City Attorney Joe Leahy, Senior Management Analyst Rosie Pryor, Administrative Aide Shari Higgins, Public Works Director Dan Brown, Traffic Engineer Brian Barnett, Traffic Engineer in Training Kristi Mayes, Planning Manager Greg Mott and members of the staff. 1. Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) - General Services Presentation. George Kloeppel, LCOG Executive Director was present. He introduced Jim Carlson, Director ofLCOG Local Government Services Division and Ted Stevens, Director of Senior and,Disabled Services Division; He distributed copies of their work program and budget information. . Mr. Kloeppel provided background, origin; and history ofLCOG. They began in 1945 as Central Lane County Planning, then in 1962 became the Central Lane Planning Council. In 1970, another name change occurred to become Lane Council of Governments and the jurisdictions included all of those included in the Lane County region. Mr. Kloeppel explained how LCOG addresses issues which cross boundary lines, , seek economies of scale, and pursue more efficient and effective government that is controlled by locally elected officials., He. explained LCOG is not another layer of government,. is not a taxing authority and has no law-making powers, but is a voluntary association of local governments. The twenty-three member governments include the city of Springfield, as well as the other eleven cities, plus Lane County. Those are the general-purpose units of government. Also included are the three large school districts, Lane Community College, Eugene Water and Electric Board,. Emerald Peoples Utility District and four other special districts. Councilor Fitch asked why the Springfield Utility Board (SUB) is not a member. Mr. Kloeppel said they have been in the past, but are not currently. LCOG does do some work for SUB from time-to-time. . Mr. Kloeppel reviewed the budget and staff, currently $21,910,697, with 214 authorized full time employees (FTE). He explained their services that occur in five divisions including: local government services, regional technology services, senior and disabled services, administration, executive and board functions. Mr. Kloeppel City of Springfield Work Session Meeting Page 2 . explained what each division does and how it impacts the City of Springfield and our services received. Council members asked specific questions regarding services and programs. Mr. Kloeppel reviewed LCOG for the year 2000, including: regional cooperation that is more important than ever now; continued emphasis on high-tech and high-touch; follow decisions made that are driven by local policy makers; create more inter- regional linkages and partnerships; and operational decentralization. . Mr. Kloeppel spoke oftheir recent purchase of the Washington Mutual Bank building and reviewed the services that will be provided from the Springfield location. Councilor Leiken asked about fiber optics consortiums and as it continues to grow, said LCOG would be the proper agency to assist local government in providing services to citizens. Mr. Kloeppel said as part of regional technology partnership they have been involved in using telecommunications technology and are assisting cities in consortiums to achieve access needed. . Mayor Maine said,she would ask council members to attend upcoming LCOG meetings on her behalf to get to know LCOG staff and metro area partners. 2. Bicycle Lane Striping Project. Traffic Engineer Brian Barnett presented the staff report. The Springfield Bicycle Plan, which was adopted by Council in June 1998, contains several priority projects, which use restriping of existing collector streets to provide important links in the bicycle system at relatively low cost. The currently proposed project will implement the majority of those planned high priority-restriping projects. The project consists of restriping to provide bicycle lanes on 28th Street from Olympic Street to Main Street, 58th Street from Thurston Road to Highbanks Road, Centennial Boulevard from 5th Street to 28th Street, Mohawk Boulevard from 18th Street to Marcola Road, and 14th Streetfrom G Street to South A Street. . In order to accommodate the restriping, parking removal will be needed on one side of 58th Street from Thurston Road to Highbanks Road, one side of Centennial Boulevard from 5th Street to 28th Street, and both sides of 14th Street. Staff has looked at existing parking use in these areas which preliminarily indicates that parking use is light and parking removal as planned may be feasible without significant adverse impacts to residents. After this work session with Council, staff proposes to write letters to the property owners affected by the parking removal, describing the proposed improvements and requesting a reply to staff with questions and concerns. Staff will meet with property owners on an individual or small group basis as needed. City of Springfield Work Session Meeting Page 3 . Based on the parking studies and public input, staff will determine the appropriate areas for parking removal. Staff is seeking comments, questions and concerns from the council regarding the public involvement process for this parking-restriping project. The restriping on 28th Street will require the removal of the center turn lane on the majority of the segment between Main Street and Olympic Street. Traffic turn counts have been completed which indicate that the elimination of the turn lane is not a significant impact except at Centennial Boulevard, where the turn lane must be maintained. The total cost of the project is estimated at $88,000. Staff is proposing that we move forward at this time with these projects from the Bicycle Plan because we currently have an offer from the State Department of Transportation to provide the majority of the funding for the work through a $70,400 local bicycle project grant. This would limit the city's matching cost to $17,600. This project is included in this year's Capital Budget. . Mr. Barnett said the Public Works Department is planning to restripe certain collect streets to connect missing bicycle segments in the system. Mr. Barnett asked council to discuss and provide feedback on the public process, which is proposed to take place prior to restriping of collector streets to provide bicycle lanes. A handout was provided showing existing and proposed project areas, including Centennial Blvd., 28th Street, 14th Street, 58th Street and Mohawk Blvd. Councilor Lundberg said a letter from the city would be better in seeking input then having an ad in the paper or public notices posted. Mayor Maine asked if the project proposed for 58th Street was still valid due to recent council discussion on roundabouts. Mr. Barnett said it will be determined, but has not been fully studied to date. Mayor Maine asked when the public process would begin. Mr. Barnett said very soon and would occur for the next few months. Councilor Simmons asked about bicycle counts and the city using the same process when evaluating street space as used when reviewing BRT. Although striping can be undone, he would like to see validation that the specific sections of streets shown as projects have been fully documented. Mr. Barnett explained how left hand turns can still occur and the levels of service changes which can out of the traffic counts. . City of Springfield Work Session Meeting Page 4 . Mayor Maine verified that all councilors would like the notice that will be sent out to the public. By consensus, council gave approval to begin the public process. 3. Review of Trans Plan. Planning Manager Greg Mott introduced this item. The Trans Plan update is in its final stages of completion. The Planning Commissions of Springfield, Eugene and Lane County, as well as the County Roads Advisory Committee have conducted several public hearings and work sessions to finalize recommendations to the elected officials. The elected officials will conduct a joint public hearing on September 8, 1999. This hearing may be completed the evening of the 8t\ or may be extended for additional testimony and response from staff. It is anticipated that the elected officials won't vote on the final version of the Trans Plan until later in the year. The staff report summarizes the main issues raised at the Planning Commission's public hearings and work sessions, including nodal development, BRT, and financial constraints. The staff report also includes a description ofthe remaining adoption process. . Tom Schwetz, Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) said the meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m., not 7:00 p.m. as stated in his memorandum attached to the staff report (AIS). Mr. Schwetz said the Planning Commissions of Springfield, Eugene and Lane County, as well as the County Roads Advisory Committee have conducted several public hearings and work sessions to finalize the recommendations to the elected officials. The February 1998 draft has been replaced by the May 1999 draft, after public and Planning Commission review. Mr. Schwetz reviewed the highlights of initiatives in the May 1999 draft. He began with Nodal Development. He explained model assumptions and the largest acreage in the site and that land use designation, while calculating vehicles trips minus a ten- percent demand. There was a discussion of the range, studies to date, and a nodal development land use pattern. The second initiative is Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). . Mr. Schwetz then moved on to the next initiative, Financially Constrained and Future (beyond 20 years) Project Lists. He said both federal and state legislation set forth guidelines that seek to ensure the needs identified in Trans Plan are balanced with resources expected to be available over the planning period. He said the project lists City of Springfield Work Session Meeting Page 5 . are not intended to serve as an exclusive long-range programming document in the manner of the regional Transportation Improvement Program, nor do they formally approve of committing any funding. The process was fully explained by Mr. Schwetz. Mr. Schwetz then explained the Key Performance Measures. He referred to the May 1999 draft document, regarding reducing reliance on the automobile. He said both BR T and Nodal Development may take longer than the 20 year planning process to achieve. Land use initiatives, in general, take a long time to be finalized in their full affect. Work sessions will also be held at the City of Eugene, Lane Transit District, and with Lane County. He explained future meeting requirements and the public hearing process. Councilor Simmons said he would like more information on the key performance measures, specifically on page five, chapter four. He said the changes to the percentages should be explained as some numbers seem unrealistic and asked how they are derived. Mr. Schwetz said their geographical information system provides estimated numbers based on households and projected growth. . Councilor Ballew asked about the demographic figures with aging population. Mr. Schwetz said it is a consideration, but there is not a current way to calculate age on their traffic demand model. Councilor Simmons suggested using census information. Mr. Schwetz reviewed the condition of the pavement, being at eighty percent or higher for most of the region. This is the optimal percentage to achieve a pavement rating of fair or better. Councilor Hatfield asked if a gas tax increase is assumed in this draft. Mr. Schwetz replied yes, it is the state calculations and all jurisdictions in the state are assuming the increase. Assumptions are also included in the plan that Lane County timber receipts are declining. Discussion on financial aspects and how over time the county will not be able to share road tax funding with the local cities. The group further discussed timber receipts and its dedication for road use. Mayor Maine asked about an assumption for the year 2004 when the current agreement expires and the assumptions for going forward. Mr. Schwetz provided information regarding the amount of revenue available to Lane County and future assumptions. Mr. Schwetz provided additional information regarding Road Fund money. . Mr. Schwetz noted a correction to table five, chapter three, page 69. There was a printing error and those revised copies have been distributed to the council via City of Springfield Work Session Meeting Page 6 . Springfield Planning Manager Greg Mott. He spoke of items, which may be discussed at the public hearing, including BRT, Nodal Development, specific project level comments, air quality standards, and the financial constraints. Mayor Maine asked that the packet materials be distributed at least two weeks prior to the meeting date, as the Springfield City Council will still be on their summer recess. Both Mr. Schwetz and Mr. Mott said the information would be ready due to other pending deadlines with the State of Oregon and public hearing notice requirements. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:30 p.m. Minutes Recorder - Shari Higgins {l~{~ Maureen Maine"Mayor . ATTEST: w~ .